Method of forming blanks for covering eyelets.



the word blank UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

A mii-:wr LATHAM, or WALTHAM, MAsSAOnUSETTS, Ass1e`Non To' BOSTON FASTcoton EYE- Ls'r OOMPAN Y, or PORTLAND, MAINE, A CORPORATION OFMAINE.

" METHOD 0F FORMING BLANKSFOR COVERING'EYELETS.

specification @Latem Patent.

Patented July 21, 1908.

`application and omber 2e, 1906, semi No. esem. Renewed December i2,1907. sei-iai no. 406,202.

ToavZZ iuhom fit may, noncern:

'Be it known that l lALBERT LATHAM, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Wal-v .following description,in connection with thel accompanying" drawings, -1s a' s ecification,

like re erence-characters on the awings'in- (heating like-parts in theseveral figures. l

This invention relates to the treatment of covering material Y in "themanufacture of blanks used to yform wear-resisting coverings foreyelets.

The invention comprises a method of forniing blanks in which 1g'eateconomy is practiced by utilizing materialwhich, in processes hithertoemployed, basbeen wasted.

In the following specification andclaims willbeused to denote thatportion of the covering materialwhich is a pliedt'o an eyelet, whethersaid lportion be ormed or shaped before or during the coveringoperation.

IThe inventlon will 'be described as em ploying sheet covering materialand the expression blank-area will be used to denote that area ofa'sheet of material'which is occupied by' a'blank.. The-expressioninside the blank-area'V willbe used to indicate that portionof a sheet-which is surrounded by the blank-area.

It has been a common practice to cover e elets with lastic'` material inthe form of a 's met, a portion of the material, of substanblankI'intended .to register fwith 'the' lacing.' passage of an eyelet.. Thismethod was disadvantageous since the considerable area of,

material thus removed-was Wasted. When y 'blanks for several eyeletsiwere formedfrom a sheet, superfluous mate al'intervened be- ,tw'oen thecurved, outl nes ofy ad'acent blaiiks, andl this su 'erfl ous materia`also was wasted. Y In met ods lieretfo're used it has been considerednece ary'to use a sheet of a thickness a proxima ing the maximum.thickness inten ed-for th blank, and hene, those portions of asheetjwhich' were vWasted com rised considerable'j'areasof' relatively.thic stock.

Many millions ot material by ncreasi relatively thin sheet within ablank-area, t o form a blank of greater thickness than the yearly witheelluloid,`the material commonly used for 'this purpose, and themultiplied waste occasioned as above suggested is a source of seriousexpense to those en a ed in this industry. The initial cost of cel u oidis so catas toforbid discarding waste materia 4and consequently allwaste is carefully preserved and reworked into new sheets or the like.This' does not, however', avoid a considerable-loss because the processof reworkin is' itself expensive. Obviously it is highly esirable toutilize as much as possible of the Vmaterial .in its initial formthereby reducing the amount of waste necessary tobe reworked andeliminat'in in large part the secondar expense hereto Oie involved `inthe use of celulold. To this end the present invention contem- .platesthe employmentvof a relatively thin sheet of covering -`material so thatwasted ortions ,shall beof lesslvvolume than when ost from a thicksheetl and theinvention also contemplates a flirther reduc'ton of wasteby using material whiclr would otherwise be wasted, in increasing thethickness ofthe relatively thin sheet to form the thick 'parts of ablank.

More specifically this invention consists in amethod ol forming blanksfrom sheet the thickness of a sheet.

In the particular a plio'ation of the invenf tion herein shown andescribed, the method is' characterized by moving material from insi'dethe blank-area" outward to utilize -tliat waste material in the blank.

"Other characteristics of the will be explained in the followingdescription Iandwill bedefned in the claims.- i

increasing the thickness .got

invention I.

Devices which may convenientlylb'e used .in the practice ofa methodembodying this f invention are' shown in? the'accomp'anying' drawings"in'which Flgure :1 1s Aa vertical sectionl through-a 2'is a view inperspective cfa 's eet ofplastic' material with a blank formed thereon'bthedies shown in Fig."1, (reduced one-hat from Fig". '1). Fig. 31s abottom planview ofthe-'acti face o f the upper die shown in Avisoreduced one-half). Filis.4v 4

.pair of cooperating blank forming dies.l Fig;

- forming die.

ln preparingy a blank for covering an eyelet having a central lacingpassage, b v the preferred application of this novel method employingthe specific devices shown in the drawings, a relatively thin sheet ofplastic covering material, preferably Celluloid, is used land an annularrim of greater thickness than ,the sheet, is formed upon said sheet b v'movingr material from inside the rim rmtwardly and from outside the riminwardly to contribute to the increased thickness of said rim.

As shown in Fig. l a sheet A of plastic material rests on a flat die Band is acted upon by a die 'l`htl die C has an annular recess c and twopresser-faces E and l". face li is concave and frusto-conical in formand inclincs inwardlv to the recess c. The face F is circular and flat.

'lhe plastic material usually employed in covering eyelets is normali)`hard orrigid and n'lay eonvenicntlv be rendered plastic by the ap)lication of heat. To this end the dies ain or either of them alone, mavbe heated inauy suitable manner, or the reet A may be heated seara-telygrand introduced to the dies in its a tered state. Any otherpracticable method of rendering the. sheet A plastic may be adoptedifdesired.4

In practicing this invention by the above descri ed devices, the die Cis brought down upon the sheet A of plastic material and subjected tosuitable pressure. The lower edge of the presser face E engages thesheet A 1n the circumference of ,a circle, and as it descends theinclined face E moves material inwardly from said circumference `tocontribute to the formation of'a blank in the recess c. The face F meetsthe sheet A 'on a circle inside the blank-area and as it descends,saidface F moves material from beneath -it outwardly into the. recess cto com lete the formation of the blank.

' Fig. 2 shows a blank formed as just de,- scribed. The 'presser-face Ehas acted to move material inwardly to form the blank a, leaving thethin annular portion b; and the presser-face F has acted to movematerialoutwardly from inside the blank-area to the blank a leaving the thincircular portion d. It will be noted that the portions b and' d arematerially thinner than the normal thickness of the sheet (see e, Fig.l), consid- The i thevpa'rticular form of the finger.

'time the blank is irefer'abltv plastic as when `manner the eyelet iscovered.'

erable waste material having been removed from said portions to increasethe thickness of the blank.

It is by no means essential that this improved method of preparingblanks be practiced in connection with such apparatus as is here shownand described .or 1n 'making blanks of the type used for illustration.The

. invention is not to be restricted inits application to use inconnectionl with any particular sort of mechanical contrivance.

By way of illustrating the many possible forms of apparatus which mightbe used in practicing a method embodying'this invention a modified formof blank-forming die I is shown in Figs. 4 and'5. This die has ingeneral the same characteristics as one of the I dies shown in Fig. 1,except that the presser face E is omitted in the modification. This dieI has a recess c for sha-ping the blank, and it also4 has a presser faceF which acts upon the sheet materia-l to move material from inside. theblank-area into the recess .In the use of this die. no, material ismoved from vaccording; Ato this invention may be used,

eyelet covering dies are shown in Fig. 6 and aV covered eyelet isshownin Fig. 7.

The eyelet to be covered is shown as having an outwardly projectingflange at one end. This eyelet is positioned in a cvlindricalaperturefi'n a. lower' cove-ringdie G, (see Fig. (i). with-the lowerface of its flange resting on su )ports g g which project upwardly fromt ie face of the die. `A blank is placed upon the eyelet flange and anupper die ll is pressed upon it.

'lhe die ll has an annular recess lnwhich gives the filial shape to thel'covering of the exvelet ant-l which has the proper conformation tosuit this pur iose; The blank a is preferably formed to it approximatelywithin said recess z. 'lhe die llalso hasa trimmin edge i and adependingfinger j. L As the die I descends the finger y' ienetrates thethin portion d inside the blank-area und either removes it entirelv 'orwipes part of it. down on the inside of the flange,l or it may be, intothe 'barrel of the c velet, according t o At this 4supports g g. Thetrimming edge cuts away any fragments which ma Y have been left aroundthe ,edge of the blau a. In

-It isnot intended to claim as a part of this l invention the specificmet-hed of covern a'nforming eyelets, having heads 4or coverings eyeletjust describedybut any metho -of ot' niasie material7 which involves theuse of :i blank formed in amorlanee with this invention. comes withinthe proper seope ol this invention as it is delined in thi` claims.

While the method ol' this invention has been deseribed as applied totht'l formation oi a blank l'or covering an e \elet having a centrallacingr passage, it is to be understood that in its broad aspects theinvention is applicable to the formation ol' blanks for eovering;laeiney hooks and similar articles, and therefore the nord U e \'elel\\-here\'er occurringv in the specilieation and elaims should when theeontext permits be eonstrned as includingr eyelets, latingdtooks andsimilar articles.

Having fully described my invention what vl rlainras new and desire tosecure b v lietters Patent is 1w l. The method ,ol` forming: blanks fromsheet material which consists in eoneentrating material ol' a relativelythin sheet in a. blank-area to l'orm a blank which `is thicker than thesheet material.

.f. 'l`he method ot loi-ming blanks l'rom plastie material whichconsists m moving "waste material into a blank lo l'orm a blank whichthicker than the plastic material.

Si. The method ol forming blanks from plastic. l'natelial` prior to theejrelet covering operation, whieh eons'ists in moving material 5. Themethod of formingT blanks from sheet material "hieb consists in movingmaterial from inside av blank-area into said area to produce a greaterthickness in said area, than the thickness ot' the. sheet material.

6. The 'method ot' forming blanks l'rom sheet material wh'ieh consistsin movingr material from inside the blank area. and from otside. saidarea. into said area to form a blank thicker than the sheet lnate-rial.

7. The method of forming blanks l'rom sheet material which consists inmoving material from inside the blank-area and l'rom ontside said area7to that part olI said area which is desired to be thick.

'8. The method ol forming blanks from sheet material which consists inmoving waste material tio increase the thickness ot a portion of -a.sheet thereby forming a. blank which lies substantially in the'plane ofthe sheet.

E). The method ol" forming blanks lronr sheet material which ronsists inmoving material laterallv in the planey of the sheet to increase thethickness et material in a blanlarea. l

10, The' method of forming blanks from sheet, material which consists inforcing material radialhV outward from inside a blankto those pointswhere a blank is desired to be.

thick to form a. blank of' `greater thickness than the plastie material.

fl. l`ho method ol' forming blanks l'rom sheet material which consistsin inereasing the thickness ol'A the sheet. in a blankarrea by movingmaterial from inside said blank-area outward,

area and radially inward l'rom outside, said areay and shapingr thematerial so moved to l'orln a blank thicker than the sheet material. Intestimony whereof l have signed my name to this specification in thel'n'esence ol' two subscribing` witnesses.

' i ALBERT LATHAM. litnessesz JOHNSON MoaoAN, BENJ. J. Tnmras.

